Tuesday, February 26, 2013

It is with
great concern over the effects of the sequester that I write to you today. These budget cuts will harm real people; they
are not an academic exercise and this is no laboratory for testing ideology
around the role of government. Indeed, a
recent
report by the Coalition on Human Needs shows that 600,000 children and
women stand to lose WIC nutrition assistance, 70,000 children may be denied
Head Start, and at a time when the need for better mental health care is
brought into stark relief by recent violent events, 373,000 people stand to
lose access to mental health treatment.
Arguments that the effects of the sequester will not be “that bad” fail
to account for the real lives of people who depend on the services that we have
committed to provide for the common good of all.

Crushing poverty in a world of
abundance is insufferable and our nation has allowed too much injustice and
greed to govern our current economic structures. Instead, we seek to increase equity and
equality in this nation. We are alarmed at the growing economic
divergence between rich and poor, creating permanent inequalities that are
neither just nor socially sustainable. Over the past thirty years, tax policy
has too often been used to perpetuate rather than address these inequalities…

It is from this place of concern for
the common good, right relationship, and the just working of the economy, that
we seek a balanced approach to deficit reduction. Sequestration was developed as a backstop – a
last resort if Congress failed to act in a more thoughtful and balanced
way. Whether Congress uses sequestration
or some alternative as a means of achieving deficit reduction, Congress can and
must act in a way that reflects our shared values. There are core challenges
facing our nation: rising income inequality, persistent unemployment,
historically high rates of poverty and anemic economic growth. These challenges
must be addressed with justice.

Therefore, we refuse to accept
additional spending cuts to programs that serve “the least of these,” and we
support extending the tax cuts for low and middle-income families. In particular, we support a strong, refundable
Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, as they are some of this
nation’s most effective tools for alleviating poverty.

Our
approach to upcoming sequestration needs to be rooted in our values – a
balanced approach that addresses the deficit crisis with justice and compassion. On the one hand, we need to be good stewards
of the resources we already have, making judicious cuts to defense, earmarks,
and other wasteful spending, while preserving that which is most important for
the good of all. On the other hand, we
must increase revenue, in order to ensure that this nation can meet our need to
operate a fair and just economy, which serves all of our human community. The
nation’s deficit crisis cannot be solved through spending cuts alone – new
revenues must be part of the solution. The
need is great and the resources are abundant.
The budget choices we make must reflect this reality.

Please feel
free to contact me at the contact information below, or my fellow Co-Chair,
Amelia Kegan, Policy Analyst at Bread for the Word, should you have any
questions.

The
House Leadership’s version
of VAWA, which will be substituted for the Senate’s inclusive, comprehensive version of
S.47, is a bill that excludes effective protections for LGBT, tribal,
immigrant, and campus victims. It will likely be on
the House floor tomorrow or Thursday. The PC(USA) Office of Public
Witness strongly supports a bipartisan, inclusive VAWA reauthorization, such as
the bipartisan Senate-passed S. 47, and opposes this House Leadership
substitute bill.

Please
email your Representatives and urge them to vote against the House
Republican Leader’s substitute VAWA and ask them to vote for the field-approved
VAWA that passed in the Senate with strong bipartisan support. Send
a message today!

The
substitute bill is not the punitive House bill that the OPW opposed last year;
nonetheless, this Houseversion
of the bill fails victims in a number of critical ways:

Fails
to include the protections for LGBT victims from the Senate bill

Removes
important provisions added to the Senate bill to protect victims of human
trafficking

Contains
harsh administrative penalties and hurdles for small struggling domestic
violence and sexual assault programs and an
additional layer of bureaucracy through the office of the Attorney General

Drops
the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act, which is included in
the Senate bill, that improves the handling of sexual violence and
intimate partner violence on college campuses

Drops
important provisions in the Senate bill that that work toward erasing the
rape kit backlog

Weakens
protections for victims in public housing

Drops
the inclusion of “stalking” among the list of crimes covered by the U visa
(a critical law enforcement tool that encourages immigrant victims to
assist with the investigation or prosecution of certain enumerated crimes)

Seventy-eight
Senators from both parties and over 1,300 local, state and national
professional and policyorganizations, including
the PC(USA), support the Senate-passed bill as do law enforcement officials, health
care professionals, community program and service providers, faith communities,
and the tens of millions of survivors and their families, friends, and loved
ones who rely on, have benefited from, and used the services and resources
provided by the 19-year-old law which has now expired.

We
must oppose this partisan substitute and instead pass the bipartisan Senate
version of VAWA. 201Democrats are sponsors of H.R. 11, the
House replica of the Senate bill.NineteenRepublican Representatives have asked
the House Republican leaders to pass a bipartisan bill that “reaches all
victims” anddozens more Republicans
support some or all of the Senate provisions that are not included in the
Republican VAWA substitute.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

On
Tuesday, Feb. 12, the Senate passed S. 47, a strong, inclusive bill to
reauthorize the landmark Violence Against Women Act sponsored by Senators
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Michael Crapo (R-ID), by a 78-22bipartisan vote! Thank you for all of your hard work to make this
happen! And thank you to our Senate champions and the Administration for
their unwavering support.Email
your Senators today to say thank you!

Now
we need to tell the House of Representatives to bring the bipartisan Senate
bill to the House floor for a vote -
and to get this done immediately! Email
your Representative today!

Right
now the House leadership is pondering about what direction to take on VAWA.Speaker
Boehner has given an opening, saying “No decision
has been made about…whether we take up the Senate bill or move our own version
of the bill.” We need to help Speaker Boehner and the House decide to
take up the Senate bill S. 47. Email your Representative today! Survivors of violence
cannot wait any longer.

Background on the Bill the Senate passed:

On Tuesday, Feb.
12, the U.S. Senate passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of
2013 (S. 47). This strong and inclusive legislation was championed by lead
co-sponsors Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Michael Crapo (R-ID) to a 78-22
bi-partisan victory.

And in addition
to the success of an inclusive VAWA, Senators also included a
human-trafficking-related amendment that is effectively the same as S.1301, the
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), a positive bill
that had broad bipartisan support last year (including from 15 Republicans).
For a factsheet on S.1301, click here.
For the bill text click here
and for a full list of co-sponsors, click here.

Since
its original passage in 1994, VAWA has dramatically enhanced our nation’s
response to violence against girls and women, boys and men. More victims report
domestic violence to the police and the rate of non-fatal intimate partner
violence against women has decreased by 64%.
VAWA provides for a coordinated community approach, improving
collaboration between law enforcement and victim services providers to better
meet the needs of victims. These comprehensive and cost-effective programs not
only save lives, they also save money. In fact, VAWA saved nearly $12.6 billion
in net averted social costs in just its first six years.

Bipartisan
momentum is also growing in the House of Representatives to swiftly pass a
strong VAWA reauthorization bill that will protect all victims.

Representative
Gwen Moore (D-WI), herself a courageous survivor of domestic violence and
sexual assault, introduced a VAWA reauthorization bill (HR 11; similar to S.47)
on January 22nd. Nearly 200 co-sponsors have joined her in just the
last few weeks.

We know that
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
are attempting to find common ground (click here
for more), pledging to make VAWA’s reauthorization an early House priority. We
hope that they will continue to work together to reach agreement on a bill that
includes all victims. A group of 17 Republican House Members also wrote to
Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Feb. 11, to urge them
to immediately move to reauthorize VAWA; lamenting that reauthorization is
“long overdue”; attesting that VAWA programs “save lives” and “have been a
success in curbing domestic violence and supporting victims”; and appealing for
their swift action to reach “bipartisan compromise” and to find a “bipartisan
plan… that reaches all victims.” See letter and signatories
here.

These signs of
bipartisan energy and commitment to VAWA’s reauthorization in the House of
Representatives are very encouraging. Email your Representative to today – call
on the House to follow the Senate’s lead and bring a strong, inclusive,
bipartisan VAWA bill to the floor for a vote in the weeks ahead.

Note: both alerts will
offer sample language based on your Members’ actions on these bills.

If your Representative is one of the 201 sponsors sponsors (all
Democrats) of the House version of the Senate VAWA (H.R. 11), thank them and encourage them to talk to and work with their Republican
colleagues to get a bipartisan VAWA passed. (For further updates on
sponsors, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php,
choose Bill number, type in H.R. 11 and search.)

If your Representative is one of the 17
Republicans who signed onto a letter to Republican House leadership urging a
bipartisan VAWA that reaches all victims, thank them and urge them to talk to Speaker Boehner and Majority
Leader Cantor and suggest to them that the Senate bill should be considered on
the House floor. See letter and signatories
here. Twitter handles for these members are at http://www.tweetcongress.org.

If your Representative
is NOT on the sponsor list, call on them to join the movement in the
House for an inclusive VAWA.

A Faithful Federal Budget: What Does it Look Like and Why Does it Matter?by Leslie Woods, Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness"The federal deficit is not this nation’s most pressing problem. While it is a long-term problem that needs a long-term solution, more urgent are the problems of rising inequality, economic injustice, contempt for the common good, and a startling lack of civility that allows us to demonize the “other” while avoiding responsibility for our collective sins and our complicity in our unjust systems. Indeed, much more important than the fiscal deficit is our human deficit, where need, hunger, and insecurity result from our lack of investment in people and the community structures that keep people safe, healthy, and happy."

Challenging the False Notion of Scarcityby John Hill, United Methodist General Board of Church and Society"How can it be that in the midst of the greatest jobs crisis since the Great Depression, with millions unemployed and millions more underemployed, our leaders in the hallowed halls I had just ridden past seem more concerned with cutting spending and protecting privilege than building community and more justly sharing prosperity?..."I fear we have so bought into the notion of scarcity that is being peddled – mostly by those who have plenty – that we fail to recognize its fallacy, ask faithful questions and embrace God’s economy of abundance."

"Putting people back to work and back to paying taxes; strengthening the economy to reduce spending on unemployment benefits, food stamps, Medicaid, and other safety net programs; and raising taxes on those who have most greatly benefited from the last 40 years of skewed economic gains are the best way to reduce the deficit...

"Unemployment, not the deficit, continues to be the nation’s main problem."

Tax Reform: The Next Big Thing in the Federal Budget Debates by Amelia Kegan, Bread for the World"The fiscal cliff ended with a deal that raises about $620 billion in new tax revenue over the next decade. Some say that the tax decisions were made and behind us. But for those of us who care about our country’s ability to address hunger and help people move out of poverty, the fiscal cliff deal cannot be the last word on revenues. As Congress struggles to find another one to one and a half trillion dollars in deficit reduction, we absolutely need more revenues if programs that reduce hunger and poverty are to remain effective and funded."

Read these and many more thought-provoking conversations and articles on www.ecclesio.com.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

On March 1st, new federal budget cuts
will begin to take effect. If Congress
does nothing, many hundreds of thousands of people will be hurt by
across-the-board cuts (sequestration) to education, nutrition, job training,
home heating assistance, public health, mental health, and social services, to
name only a few areas. In the absence of a resolution, there will be $31.4
billion in spending cuts to domestic programs like WIC, Head Start, child care,
housing, home energy, homeless aid, education and training, and much more. Medicare alone will be cut by $11.2
billion.

Congress should replace the sequester with a
balanced approach that reflects our collective responsibility to our human
community. There are core challenges
facing our nation: rising income inequality, persistent unemployment,
historically high rates of poverty and anemic economic growth. These challenges
must be addressed with justice, but the sequester will only exacerbate them.

Sequestration was developed as a backstop – a last
resort if Congress failed to reduce the deficit in a more thoughtful and
balanced way. As Christians, we believe
that our economic system must be rooted in fairness, justice, and equal
opportunity. Without these values, our
economy is, quite literally, demoralized.
Thus it is our responsibility, both individually and collectively, to
respond to those who are in need.

Therefore, the first rule should be thatdeficit
reduction should not increase poverty.
Congress must not replace the current sequester with policy that will be
even worse for those who are already struggling to make ends meet. We must explore responsible alternatives to
sequestration that will be more consistent with our faith and sense of
compassion. The nation’s deficit problem
cannot be solved through spending cuts alone – new revenues must be part of the
solution.

To raise revenue, the tax code should be made more
progressive (that is, tax liability increases as income increases), system-wide
health care costs should be controlled, and unnecessary tax expenditures should
be eliminated. Further, Congress should
seriously scrutinize the Defense budget, which has doubled in size in the last fifteen
years. Outdated weapons systems and an
over-reliance on the apparatus of war are no way to build peace and true
security in a troubled world.

Our partners at the Coalition
on Human Needs have recently released new national and state-specific fact sheets
that highlight (or lowlight) the effects of these devastating cuts. Just a sampling of the impacts in fact sheets
for every state and for the U.S
are startling: Up to 125,000 families
and 100,000 formerly homeless people losing their housing (or having to pay
much more), 600,000 young children and moms losing WIC nutrition aid, 70,000
children denied Head Start, nearly 76,000 people with disabilities losing Voc.
Rehabilitation services, 373,000 adults and children with serious mental
illness losing treatment.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Congress avoided the looming fiscal cliff through a last-minute, temporary fix passed in the wee hours on Jan. 1, 2013. The 2001 and 2003 income tax
rates will be extended for people with incomes up to $400,000 ($450,000 for couples), while
those above that threshold will see an income tax increase from 35% to 39.6%. Capital gains and dividend tax
rates also increase to 20%, up from the prior 15%.[i]

Regarding the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration,
Congress passed a two-month delay, thereby leaving the 113th
Congress with an abundance of time-sensitive new "cliffs" to tackle.

At the end of last September, 2012, Congress also passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) to ensure the continuation of most federal programming and operations until March 27th, 2013. Accordingly, the 112th Congress
successfully punted to the 113th Congress, thus perpetuating the
culture of fiscal uncertainty that has painfully enveloped almost all facets of
federal budgetary life. Further, because Congress has paralyzed itself with major fiscal disasters every few months for the last two years, very little other policy of note has been accomplished. The slow-turning axle of governance has ground practically to a halt.

This "punt" culture is also evident in Congress' inability to accomplish a reauthorization of the Farm Bill, our nations food and farm policy, which historically has enjoyed broad bipartisan support. But Congress allowed the 2008 Farm Bill to expire on Oct. 1, 2012, and included a short-term, partial extension in the Jan. 1st deal that "averted" the fiscal cliff. Food and farm programs authorized by the farm bill are now
scheduled to expire October 1st, 2013. Though many important programs that invest in just and diverse food systems have not been extended and carry no funding into this New Year, they begin the process of negotiating a bill all over again.

The fiscal cliff deal, including this flawed Farm Bill extension, was drafted by Senator Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden, despite
last-minute efforts for a better Farm Bill extension by Senator Debbie Stabenow and House
Representative Frank Lucas. For more on this proposed bill, read here. This current extension continues the 2008 Farm Bill, including its
economically damaging direct commodity subsidies, while at the same time not
funding vital programs for new farmers, minority farmers, healthy food markets,
rural job programs, renewable energy, specialty crop and organic research, and
organic farming.[ii]

Some have speculated that the politically charged threat of doubled milk prices (owing to the expiration of the 2008 Bill and subsequent reversion to 1930s and 40s farm law) served as the impetus to continue the unpopular and
expensive direct commodity subsidies.[iii]
Perhaps there is truth to this, and if so, it further epitomizes the
carelessness of this last-minute extension plan. The crafters of this temporary fix ignored the bipartisan calls from Republicans, Democrats, and even the
American Farm Bureau Federation, who have all called for an end to direct
payments. This Farm Bill temporary extension missed an good opportunity for important deficit-reduction savings from direct payments and ceded important gains toward supporting new and minority farmers, investing in rural development and growing local food systems - all gains as a result of expired and un-extended policy from the 2008 Farm Bill. For more about 2012 progress
regarding the Farm Bill, readhere.

What to do? First, plan now to attend an advocacy and training weekend April 5-8, 2013, focused on Food Justice. Compassion, Peace, and Justice Training Day and Ecumenical Advocacy Days will be focusing on these issues and the Lobby Day, April 8, will focus on a holistic approach to Farm Bill reauthorization. This is an important chance to weigh in with legislators and ask them to create a more "faithful" version of the legislation. To read the interfaith community's vision of principles for a faithful Farm Bill, read here.

As the Farm Bill is being drafted once again in this 113th
Congress, we ask that you would be in prayer: prayer as expressed in your quiet
time, and prayer in your advocacy work for a faithful Farm Bill. We encourage
you to contact your legislators and advocate for a Farm Bill that abides by the
principles set forth in the interfaith document. And stay tuned for more direct action opportunities by phone and email!

As we move into this next phase of fiscal cliff and farm bill negotiations, we join in prayer for our elected officials and leaders.
May they act with justice and compassion, seeking policy that invests in the general welfare and that ensures that all people have access to healthy and nutritious food.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons
(and daughters) of God.

- Matthew 5:9

The 219th
General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) adopted the
resolution, Gun
Violence, Gospel Values: Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call, in
exercise of its responsibility to help the whole church address matters of
“social righteousness.” The resolution calls both the Church to support and the
federal government to establish laws that will prevent and reduce gun violence.
The PC(USA) recognizes the seriousness of gun violence in the United States,
where more than 30,000 lives are lost each year due to firearms. We
call on all people to conscience to make earnest strides to challenge the
pervasive culture of violence that permeates our social fabric.

During this Lenten Season we are joining other faith groups in prayerful
engagement and direct action to reduce our culture of violence and to bring
peace to our homes, streets, and public venues. Our role as Christians is to be
peacemakers. Peace is more than the absence of conflict. Peace requires our active participation in
the work to serve the common good.Making peace often
stirs controversy, because it requires engaging in faithful witness on behalf
of Jesus Christ, despite the resulting discomfort. Peace exposes human frailty
and sin in order to make repentance possible. Jesus affirms that his presence
and teachings in the world will create division among those who are closest to
him (Matthew 10:34). Therefore, the gospel is a double edged sword that evokes
unrest while creating a platform for peaceful reconciliation.

As we journey together through this
period of spiritual discipline and contemplation, while also experiencing gun-related
grief and trauma in our communities and nation, let us remember that New Life
awaits us on Easter morning.

This
petition, calling for common-sense federal measures to reduce gun violence,
is one small piece of a larger strategy to address the culture of violence that
pervades our nation. We will deliver
this petition to Congress during Eastertide.
Sign
it now!

As you move through your Lenten
discipline, make this petition – signing it, circulating it, inviting your
friends and congregation-members to sign it – one of your personal
commitments. In addition, try these
other action steps toward raising awareness and reducing violence and poverty
in our nation.

Pray for our President and the United
States Congress as they struggle with the issue of gun violence.

Encourage your Pastor(s) to preach
sermons, teach bible studies, and become involved in the efforts to change our
culture of violence and to eradicate gun violence in your local community.

Write and/or call your Congresspersons and the President each week during
Lent stating your support for federal legislation to reduce gun violence. (See the requested actions outlined in the
petition). To find contact information for your Members, click here.

As members of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) and people of faith and conscience, we believe that God desires health
and wholeness for all of God’s children – not cycles of despair, poverty, and
violence.

We therefore believe that we have a
responsibility to reduce such injustice in our midst, wherever we see it. We therefore call upon the United States Senate
and House of Representatives to approve federal legislation that will --

Reinstate the assault weapons ban
that expired in 2004 – banning all
assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Assault weapons are weapons of
war and have no place in the hands common citizens. Most mass shootings in this
nation involve such weapons.

Require universal background checks when purchasing any firearm. Many states do not require background
checks, making it simple to acquire a gun for persons with criminal records, persons
who do not know how to handle a gun, or persons who suffer from mental illness.
Guns only belong in the hands of those who know how to handle them with correct
intention.

Make gun trafficking a federal crime. Currently, gun trafficking is prosecuted under a
statute that prohibits selling guns without a federal license. This crime
carries the same punishment as trafficking chicken or livestock.

Please forward this petition to
friends, church members, organizations and/or other persons and institutions.

Post cards are available for large
groups and/or congregations who desire to collect many signatures at once (such
as church coffee hour). Please contact
our office at ga_washington_office@pcusa.org
to request petition post cards.

Friday, February 8, 2013

25 Groups Call on Obama Not to Block Food, Medicine to
Iran

A broad coalition of 25 national organizations, including the Presbyterian Church (USA), called on President Barack
Obama to take action to ensure that Iranian civilians are not blocked from
accessing food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods under existing U.S.
sanctions.

According to recent reports, a growing number of Iranians are facing
difficulties accessing food and medicine, in part due to sanctions imposed by
the United States. The Iranian government's mismanagement and lack of economic
transparency has also worsened the situations for Iranian patients, but there
are still simple actions that the U.S. government can take to ensure that
Iranians are not blocked from accessing food and medicine due to the U.S.
sanctions regime.

The Senate
is expected to vote on final passage of the Violence Against Women Act on
Thursday, Feb. 7. We need a strong,
bipartisan vote in favor of this reauthorization in order to compel the House
to take it up next. Call now!

When you
reach your Senators’ offices, ask for the staff person who handles VAWA.

The FMLA
works. Workers have used it more than 100 million times to take critical time
off to care for family members or to recuperate from their own illnesses,
without putting their jobs at risk or losing their health insurance.[i]

Presbyterians
have long supported policies that promote healthy families, particularly as
they relate to issues of employment. In 2004, the 216th General
Assembly urged the church at all levels to "advocate for local, state, and
federal legislation that might strengthen family life," including:

"Induc[ing] employers
to offer more flexible work
hours, more paid
leave for the care of dependent
persons and child-related
activities, more telecommuting options,
more possibilities for part-time jobs with prorated wages and benefits,
family-supporting wages for all workers, and more available, affordable,
and flexible child care programs.[ii]

The FMLA is
an important milestone of family-friendly legislation that makes it all the
more possible to care for our families and work outside the home. Most people have interacted with the FMLA
through parental leave (both for birth or adoption of a child), and in addition
to providing for time to care for the arrival of a new child, FMLA also
provides for workers to take protected, unpaid leave to care for a sick parent,
spouse, or child, or to recuperate from their own serious illness.

Think Progress' Infographic on Paid Leave in Developed Nations

But not all
workers can afford to take the unpaid
leave the FMLA ensures and about 40 percent of workers are not even eligible
for FMLA, because they work in organizations with fewer than 50 employees or are
otherwise exempted from FMLA’s protections.[iii]

As we
celebrate the great strides through the passage of the FMLA 20 years ago, we
must also look forward, making efforts to make U.S. family policy even more
family-friendly. Of the developed nations of the world, the U.S. is the only nation
that does not mandate paid leave for the birth of a child.

With your
help, we can both celebrate the traction this issue has gained over the years
and also move into a future where healthy families have are better sustained,
supported, and nurtured.

"We envision a
society in which families assume primary responsibility for the care and
guidance of their own members, supported by other citizens, members of faith
communities, and social institutions. It is preferable that those institutions
with the best combination of knowledge of the family situation and adequate resources
respond to family needs.ii

Monday, February 4, 2013

The Office of Public Witness sent three letters about the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to the Senate this morning (Feb. 4): one thanking the lead sponsor of the bill, S. 47, Senator Patrick Leahy; one thanking the 59 Senators who have cosponsored the bill; and one to the remaining 39 Senators who have not cosponsored it. To find the list of current cosponsors, visit the Library of Congress' website. The Senate is expected to begin debating this measure this evening. Below, please see the letters thanking the cosponsors and urging support from those who have not yet cosponsored the bill.

In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), we believe that
“domestic violence is always a violation of the power God intended for
good.” We believe that “God the Creator
is preeminently a covenant-maker, the One who creates, sustains, and transforms
the people of God. Domestic violence and abuse destroys covenants in which
people have promised to treat each other with respect and dignity.”*

Because of these convictions, we strongly support a robust
reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, we thank you for
co-sponsoring S. 47, and we trust that you to vote in favor of it when it comes
before the Senate early next week.
Further, we urge you to oppose any weakening, harmful, or non-germane
amendments and only to support changes to VAWA that are endorsed by the bill’s
chief sponsor.

As you know, VAWA’s programs support state, tribal, and
local efforts to address the pervasive and insidious crimes of domestic
violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. These programs have made great progress
towards reducing the violence, helping victims to be healthy and feel safe and
holding perpetrators accountable. This
critical legislation must be reauthorized to ensure a continued response to
these crimes.

Again, we thank you for cosponsoring this bill and look
forward to its passage, so that we can build upon VAWA's successes and
continue to enhance our nation’s ability to promote an end to this violence, to
hold perpetrators accountable, and to keep victims and their families safe from
future harm. For our part, we commit to
continued ministry with victims and survivors of violence and to do all we can,
through our ministries and our advocacy, to end this desperate cycle of
violence and brokenness.

We give thanks for your service to our nation and for your
leadership on this issue.

Sincerely,

The Reverend J. Herbert Nelson, II

Director for Public Witness

* Belief statements are
quoted from Turn Mourning Into Dancing! A
Policy Statement on Healing Domestic Violence, approved by the 213th General
Assembly (2001) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

To Senators who have NOT cosponsored S. 47:

February 1, 2013

Dear Senator:

In the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), we believe that “domestic violence is always a violation of the power
God intended for good.” We believe that
“God the Creator is preeminently a covenant-maker, the One who creates, sustains,
and transforms the people of God. Domestic violence and abuse destroys
covenants in which people have promised to treat each other with respect and
dignity.”*

Because of these convictions, we
strongly support a robust reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, we
ask you to co-sponsor it, and we urge you to vote in favor of S. 47 when it
comes before the Senate early next week.
Further, we urge you to oppose any weakening, harmful, or non-germane
amendments and only to support changes to VAWA that are endorsed by the bill’s
chief sponsor.

VAWA’s programs support
state, tribal and local efforts to address the pervasive and insidious crimes
of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. These programs have made great progress
towards reducing the violence, helping victims to be healthy and feel safe and
holding perpetrators accountable. This
critical legislation must be reauthorized to ensure a continued response to
these crimes.

Since its original passage in
1994, VAWA has dramatically enhanced our nation’s response to violence against
girls and women, boys and men. VAWA
provides for a coordinated community approach, improving collaboration between
law enforcement and victim services providers to better meet the needs of
victims. And while VAWA has unquestionably improved the national response to
these terrible crimes, much work remains to be done to address unmet needs and
to enhance access to protections and services for all victims. We urge you to sponsor and vote for S. 47
in order to build upon VAWA's successes and continue to enhance our nation’s
ability to promote an end to this violence, to hold perpetrators accountable
and to keep victims and their families safe from future harm.

For
our part, we commit to continued ministry with victims and survivors of
violence and to do all we can, through our ministries and our advocacy, to end
this desperate cycle of violence and brokenness.

We give thanks for your
service to our nation and for your leadership on this issue.

Sincerely,

The Reverend J. Herbert
Nelson, II

Director for Public Witness

* Belief statements are
quoted from Turn Mourning Into Dancing! A
Policy Statement on Healing Domestic Violence, approved by the 213th General
Assembly (2001) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

About Me

The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness is the public policy information and advocacy office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Its task is to advocate, and help the church to advocate, the social witness perspectives and policies of the Presbyterian General Assembly. The church has a long history of applying these biblically and theologically-based insights to issues that affect the public — maintaining a public policy ministry in the nation's capital since 1946.
Reformed theology teaches that because a sovereign God is at work in all the world, the church and Christian citizens should be concerned about public policy. In addition, Presbyterian forefather John Calvin wrote, "Civil magistry is a calling not only holy and legitimate, but by far the most sacred and honorable in human life."